They are looking for a history or financial troubles usually so it isn't necessarily by the score. Like Negla3 said, people with financial troubles are FAR more likely to do something illegal as means of paying bills especially dealing with money and/or other peoples finances and personal info. I am not saying that everyone is like that it is just statistics. Same thing as why your insurance company pulls credit to determine risk. Bad credit people are more likely to make a false claim etc...But bad credit doesn't necessarily discount you from employment if it is explainable i.e. good credit up until you became unemployed.

This is a disturbing trend. Not only do you have to be able to justify yourself with your criminal history background check but now you also have to be ready to try to plead your case on any prior credit issues you may have experienced, especially while the period of unemployment while looking for a job! This is another valid way of employers being able to legally discriminate or segregate would be a more appropiate term here. This is a disturbing trend and we all should be raising hell. If we the people choose not to speak up regarding this issue, even if you have outstanding credit, you still should have a problem with discrimination of some excellent potential job candidates who may have made a few mistakes in the past. Our rights will continue to become jeopardized more and more if we allow it. It will only get worse from here for job candidates. We have to do whatever it is we can to speak up about these trends occurring right before our eyes!

This is a disturbing trend. Not only do you have to be able to justify yourself with your criminal history background check but now you also have to be ready to try to plead your case on any prior credit issues you may have experienced, especially while the period of unemployment while looking for a job! This is another valid way of employers being able to legally discriminate or segregate would be a more appropiate term here. This is a disturbing trend and we all should be raising hell. If we the people choose not to speak up regarding this issue, even if you have outstanding credit, you still should have a problem with discrimination of some excellent potential job candidates who may have made a few mistakes in the past. Our rights will continue to become jeopardized more and more if we allow it. It will only get worse from here for job candidates. We have to do whatever it is we can to speak up about these trends occurring right before our very eyes!

B in Clearwater, Florida said: They are looking for a history or financial troubles usually so it isn't necessarily by the score. Like Negla3 said, people with financial troubles are FAR more likely to do something illegal as means of paying bills especially dealing with money and/or other peoples finances and personal info. I am not saying that everyone is like that it is just statistics. Same thing as why your insurance company pulls credit to determine risk. Bad credit people are more likely to make a false claim etc...But bad credit doesn't necessarily discount you from employment if it is explainable i.e. good credit up until you became unemployed.

There is no empirical data to support your claims. Having bad credit does not mean you will steal, give bad financial advice or anything unethical or illegal. Using credit in the hiring process is just another way to discriminate against those that are viewed as undesirable by the company that is doing the hiring.

B in Clearwater, Florida said: There is plenty of data that supports this otherwise it wouldn't exist. I did not say everyone with bad credit would do these things. I said it makes them MORE likely to do these things which is why companies look at it.

Scenario:
Person A has no late payments or collections and credit cards have 0 balances

Person B has 5 credit cards that are maxed out, collections, late pays on their car and credit cards. They have collection agencies and creditors calling them daily for payments threating to take them to court

In a pool of 100 of each of these scenarios, who would be MORE likely to steal, cheat etc...? If you tell me there would be no difference you are lying. Again, I am not saying that automatically makes you a thief, just more likely to do it on average.

Not to mention, someone with bad credit...can they really give financial advice if they can't even handle their own? Maybe if they used to have bad credit but do not now and they learned from it! But you wouldn't have the problem of getting hired in the first place.

So yes, you are correct that companies use it to discriminate against people.

Once again you are just giving your opinion your statements are not support by facts. Did the higher ups that ran Enron into the ground have bad credit? Theft or should I say embezzlement is more about a persons psychological makeup more than the way a person manages their personal finances there is no data available to say that a person with bad credit is going to be untrustworthy as an employee and it does not mean that they will give bad financial advice to a customer. There is no coloration between a person having bad credit and steeling from their employer or customers.

Do you understand mathematics and statistics? IT IS MORE LIKELY THAT SOMEONE WITH BAD CREDIT WILL DO IT VS SOMEONE WITH GOOD CREDIT. THAT IS NOT SAYING EVERYONE WITH BAD CREDIT AND NO ONE WITH GOOD CREDIT WILL DO IT, JUST PERCENTAGE OF RISK.

What a credit score does not reflect is "Life". Life occurs which causes you to make decisions based on priority....rent/mortgage, utilities, car payment, lunch money for your child. And these days, the price of fuel....getting back and forth to work. On average most individuals work at least 10 - 20 miles from home. None the less, a credit score does not reflect any of that. And as it has been stated, most blue collar crimes are not committed by people with poor credit scores. They are committed by those who know how to manipulate the system. The average blue collar worker making less that 40K has too much pride and fear to commit such crimes. They're trying too hard to get to the next level. So I pose the question to the forum again.....
WHAT'S THE PURPOSE OF A CREDIT CHECK for employment purposes????
A credit score has nothing to do with qualifications or ability to perform well on a job.
So,I'd like to read something better than statistical rhetoric based on a hidden agenda to discriminate.

B in Clearwater, Florida said: OK go read this then since it touches on credit reports.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-employment_screening

For you to say there is no correlation between the two is ridiculous.

Do you understand mathematics and statistics? IT IS MORE LIKELY THAT SOMEONE WITH BAD CREDIT WILL DO IT VS SOMEONE WITH GOOD CREDIT. THAT IS NOT SAYING EVERYONE WITH BAD CREDIT AND NO ONE WITH GOOD CREDIT WILL DO IT, JUST PERCENTAGE OF RISK.

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. The article does not contain any scientific data.

B in Clearwater, Florida said: Listen, I agree that a credit check in most instances is uncalled for. However, there are cases where it makes perfect sense. I started my post with only trying to explain why companies do it which was a simple explanation.

Even if 4 out of 5 people with bad credit wouldn't be tempted to commit a crime, maybe it is 9 out of 10 with good credit wouldn't. I guess the 10% difference is worth a company not taking the chance.

And like I said in my first post, USUALLY companies aren't looking at credit score. Depending on the job they may be looking for many different things. Most of what I have seen is looking for responsible payments and managing debt. Of COURSE there are always exceptions to rules with everything.

Remember also, the credit check comes late in the process. If you made it that far then you will have a chance to explain any issue. It's not like they make you send a credit report with your resume!

I hear what you are saying and I know about the lies that companies are giving as reasons why they need the credit report but when you look at the fact that most major corporations use them for applicants who have nothing to do with cash or monetary transactions you understand that it is just one more thing being used to discriminate against minorities.

They would know whether or not you are a minority long before the credit check stage. But I gather you are saying they use credit as an "excuse" not to hire minorities? I am not going to get into this discussion because that will open a whole separate can of worms.
As common practice, no I don't believe it is used to discriminate against minorities. Does it happen? Absolutely! Is that why most companies review credit? No!

B in Clearwater, Florida said: They would know whether or not you are a minority long before the credit check stage. But I gather you are saying they use credit as an "excuse" not to hire minorities? I am not going to get into this discussion because that will open a whole separate can of worms.
As common practice, no I don't believe it is used to discriminate against minorities. Does it happen? Absolutely! Is that why most companies review credit? No!

Look at it this way, the majority of embezzlers are people in high-level positions and they are the ones who usually steel from the company. As a personal banker and even as a branch manager it is almost impossible to steal or be dishonest because there is an auditorâ€™s trail connected to you. As a Senior Sales Rep handling the banks Select and premier customers I rarely handled any money most of the transactions I handled were in the for of a check or paper transfers from one account to another to cover an overdraft for a valued customer. If I had to issue a large bank check to a customer during a home equity payout or installment loan payout those checks required to signatures one from me and one from another rep of the bank usually an officer.

My credit isn't so good - the insurance company I was working for was taken over; I was let go, and I could no longer make payments in a timely manner. Sure, I got loads of calls to scare the heck out of me, I had zillions of late payments and even had a judgment against me. That all ended two years ago when I got a windfall when my father passed away; my car was paid off nine months earlier which took a big bite out of the debt. My judgment was settled for half the amount; all debts were settled for a compromised amount. I have one that's a zombie, and the court can't do anything about that.

Hey B....don't take it personally. I'm just trying to get some clarity on the situation.
Your dialouge has been great! I'd still be interested in helping the majority of citizens which have been affected by this scheme.

Got the scoop in Voorhees, New Jersey said: It's this simple. It's taken as if you can't keep your own financial matters in order, why should a company trust you with theirs. That is how they judge it.

I hear you but the only problem is that these credit checks are being used as part of the application process for jobs that have no correllation with the use of the employer's money. I hear what others are saying on this post and that is what I have also personally experienced, that the credit check may have originally been created to, I guess, limit the amount of would be untrustworthy, workers, the problem is that your credit rating does not reflect the type of person that you actually are. What is also unfortunate is that, if you look at the straight statistics and facts on this issue, you will see that the people that are most effected by these laws are minorities and others who may earn less already, thus creating more of a "struggle" for these individuals and easily allowing the potential for one's credit to take some hits just trying to make it. A lot of these people are not hardened "potential" criminals or "untrustworthy" folks. No, instead, these people have historically been overcoming societal struggles and are striving to make a better life for their families and themselves. Their trying their best to make it. A credit review will not show this. But this reason trully shows the reason why minorities and other would be typically, low income groups are the ones who historically have lower credit ratings/scores. Its sad cuz the discrimination is very obvious. I'm a struggling, former college graduate, African American male who knows what I'm talking about. Ask some other minorities who have been denied employment that they knew they fully qualified for and prepared for. Then, for almost no apparent reason at all, they were denied employment.

I would like to just say again that I DID not have a credit check to become a personal banker....they did fingerprinting and a criminal background check and that was all. I was hired 5 months ago so maybe this is something that has changed recently...?

Cant Tellya in rochester, New York said: I would like to just say again that I DID not have a credit check to become a personal banker....they did fingerprinting and a criminal background check and that was all. I was hired 5 months ago so maybe this is something that has changed recently...?

Did you read your paper work? There is usually a statement in there where you are signing off giving them permission to do a credit check. They may have ran one on you and decided that the need in the particular area outweighed the need for perfect credit. Additionally, when I worked in the branch there was something called the end of day report that tracked your every move any transaction you made on a customerâ€™s account would show up on this report and you would have to sign it and give an explanation of what you did on the account. It is almost impossible for anyone to steal from the bank.

this is the second time i have worked for chase...and no credit check either time..I have even asked management about it and they laughed. There are no "end of day reports" anymore...those have been gone for a few years...the new systems are much better. If there WAS ever a problem...of course they could research it and see every move made...

In regards to comment from B in Clearwater, Florida. You must be speaking specifically for yourself. I pratically ruined my credit when I was pretty young 18-23. However I have always worked in banks or places where I had access to sensistive information and have never felt the least bit of temptation to do something that is going to get me thrown in jail. I think denying someone based soley on credit is unfair. Circumstances happen quite often out of your control that can affect your ability to pay also just trying to survive on your own is huge task. Low paying jobs + high cost of living and a few bad choices does not = to a person stealing money, committing identy fraud or filing false insurance claims... Get over yourself... Stop coming to retarded conclusions,,, Thanks

Well, speaking of retards, did you read ANY of my comments? As I said about 4 times, just because you have bad credit doesn't make you a thief. It is a law of percentages that SOME companies choose to go by. Others could care less. It boils down to company preference.

Look at it this way; certain loans may have a credit score requirement of 680 to get financing. If someone has a 679 score they are usually denied the loan. Does that mean the person with 679 won't pay the loan and the one with 680 will? Maybe or maybe not. Someone with a 500 score may pay a loan if it was given to them but they choose not to take that risk. People with bad credit probably had good credit at some point in time but didn't pay bills for one reason or another. It takes someone to give them a chance to show they will pay again. Some companies don't give that chance but there are those that will.

There are those that would say a background check is not right either. Who cares what someone did in the past, right? They are a changed person now and you should judge them by the current state, right? Well in some cases that is true but most cases it is not. A high percentage of felons repeat. As with a high percentage of bad credit people never get good credit. Enough of a percentage of those with bad credit are unethical in some form or another to make companies discriminate by it.

Everyone is acting like I own JP Morgan and am trying to explain why I pull credit on people. I am merely trying to explain the reasoning behind it which not many of you agree with or understand.

So then, the question still remains.
If it is illegal do deny employment because of credit, why are employers allowed to access your credit report as a reference?
I would like to make it ILLEGAL to access credit period, for the purpose of employment.
What does a person's credit score have to do with their qualifications? It just a way to discriminate!!!
And if that's not the case, then get all of us a job with you.

Yes RETARD I did read your post as well as Negla3 in Columbus. The real question is RETARD have you read the topic of this discussion. If I'm not mistaken I thought we were speaking of "why some companies are requireing indivduals to past a credit check in order to attain employment. We are not speaking about taking out a damn loan or repeated felons. What does your examples have to with anything. Focus on the topic please... LOL. Now as I was saying along with others on the board. In a situation where a person has the qualifications for the position "education and experience" has great references. No record of embezzlement or committing identity theft. No criminal record... IT WOULD BE COMPLETELY UNFAIR FOR A COMPANY TO COME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT THE INDIVIDUAL IS NOT QUALIFIED FOR A POSITION BECAUSE THEY HAVE DEBT. IT IS PREJUDICE FOR ONE TO ASSUME BECAUSE A PERSON HAS BAD CREDIT THEY ARE GOING TO STEAL FROM THE COMPANY. AND YOU WERE WRONG WHEN YOU SAID THAT THERE IS EVIDENCE THAT SUPPORTS THESE THEORIES. THEIR ARE ONLY ASSUMPTIONS NO STATISICS. ALLSTATE WAS SUEd FOR UNFAIR PRACTICES WITH USING CREDIT AS PREDETEMINATION FOR EMPLOYMENT AND JOHNSON & JOHNSON IS CURRENTLY BEING SUED NOW. Any way who in their right mind is going to steal to pay off some bills. Like somebody is really going to risk sitting in a hot funky jail so that they satisfy there debtors. If someone chooses to steal from a company or commit identity theft that indivducal had thoses tendency all along not because their credit score push them to the edge... Like Oh My God my credit score has plummitted down to 426 let me steal all the money out of the cash drawer of KFC or better yet maybe I should rob a bank. Get Real. I bectha if there was real study was done on why somebody choose to steal they would not respond because my credit card bills made me.

My examples were to give your bird brain something to understand since you obviously don't understand credit, risk or statistics. Obviously that didn't work either.

Once again you didn't read anything I wrote. You just said the exact same things I answered in my previous post.

Since you know everything and call it illegal to weigh credit as a hiring factor, maybe you need to contact the government to complain about them. Here is a snippet taken from SBA.Gov for requirements:

In respone to the person that posted from Knoxville Tennessee... It is NOT illegal to deny a individual employment based on credit. As long as that company sends you written documentation why and allows you like to 10 days to clean your credit history. LOL...The company is only allowed to verify your credit report with your written consent.

Unfortunately its at the discression of the employer...but discrimination is nothing new...You would be suprised the number of people cant even make it that far in the application process just because they have unusual names and their resume was discarded.
Credit checks just really became popular source of determination of employment within the last 5 years according to what I have read. Nothing will be done to stop this practice unless more people start to sue for discrimination but the people that are most affected by this dont have money to afford to sue... Sad :(

Oh and something I better clarify for you Bree even though I did in my first post; SBA isn't pulling credit to see what your credit score is. They are checking to see if you have a Federal tax liens, backed child support or charged off student loans because this is relevant to them.

LOL, Birdbrain... I understand credit, risks and statisics very well do you understand that assuming because a person has bad credit they are more likely to be a bad person is unfair. What about the potential people you are denying employment that would have been hard working, dedicated employees. What do you say screw them. I'll just put them in the same catergory as all the convicted theives. LOL your the Birdbrain. You continue to give vague examples that dont coincide with the topic. The example you gave on KEY REQUIREMENTS Background/Security Investigation required... Duh!!! I did not say nor did anyone else state that background checks should not be done... We said PEOPLE SHOULD NOT BE DENIED EMPLOYMENT BECAUSE THEY HAVE BAD CREDIT ESPECIALLY IF THE HAVE NOT COMMITED OR HAVE BEEN CONVICTED OF a CRIME. A LARGE PERCENTAGE OF PEOPLE OF ALL AGES AND RACES HAVE BAD CREDIT. THE PROCESS NEEDS TO BE STREAMLINED SO THAT WE ALL ARE NOT DENIED EMPLOYMENT BASED ON ABSURD, WEAK, AND EXTREME ASSUMPTIONS OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF WHO PROABLY WAS BORN WITH A SILVER SPOON IN YOUR MOUTH. I BET YOU WERE ONE OF THOSE LUCKY PEOPLE WHO COULD LIVE AT HOME WITH YOUR MOMMY UNTIL YOU GRADUATED FROM COLLEGE AND WAS DAMN NEAR 30 YEARS OLD UNTIL MOVED FROM THE NEST. I BET MOMMY AND DADDY CAME TO SAVE THE DAY WHEN YOUR CAR BROKE DOWN AND YOU COULDNT GET TO WORK, MEDICAL INSURANCE WAS CANCELLED RIGHT AT THE TIME YOUR WERE IN THE HOSPITAL OR HAD TO CHARGE FOOD AND GAS TO YOUR CREDIT CARDS SO THAT YOU COULD MERELY SURVIVE, BIRDBRAIN

Are you for real? I guess I should have taken the other two lines out of my "key requirement" to not confuse you. I was referring to the first line of the requirement not the last. Lord.

If you would like to know, I was far from a silver spoon. My father passed away when I was 17 and I moved out when I was 18 because I then had to get a job since my mother was a homemaker and couldn't support the household. I had my share of struggles and bad credit so I am all too familiar with situations.

Once again, I never said I agreed with the practice I was only trying to explain it. Some people just choose to be more combative than others and never let things rest. It is a practice that some may say is unfair. There are a lot of things that are unfair.

I don't agree with companies not hiring anyone without a college degree. There are many people without degrees much more intelligent and better workers than some with. Whether it is by choice or necessity just because someone didn't go to college doesn't make them worth less than someone who did. What about all those workers who could be great without a degree? Some companies don't care because that is a policy they choose to include in their hiring requirements.

and another thing I never called credit checks illegal. But Streotyping should be just like you can assume things about people with bad credit I can assume things about people with good credit. It works both ways. A person with bad credit is automatically a thief who cant make sound finacial decisions than a person with good credit never really experienced any financial hardship and had better advantages in life. How would the people with good credit feel if people assumed that they didnt have to struggle or earn everything they have acheived in their life.
It dont feel good.

We are definitetly not communicating. I know exactly what you are talking about in regards to the requirements/ credit check on applications and I stand by my opinion that companies should not deny an individual employment based on credit alone. Regardless of what you think or what you have been thru. I stand by my opinion. There are companies out there that are vaguely looking at people credit reports with no question on what happen and denying them employment. There are companies that are not using the credit checks in a context where its condusive to do so. Fiancial Advisor Maybe... I dont think a person should be denied a damn CSR job because they have medical bills and credit card bills that are past due. It riduculous to deny a person the means to put food in their mouth and keep a roof over their had because they didnt pay past bills.
Thats That. I Stand behind my opinion. Regardless....Take it or leave it

Man...you guys are really getting into this, but I DO feel that it's an important discussion to have...without all of the childish name-calling. It is wrong to discriminate for EMPLOYMENT purposes based on things that people can't control (i.e., age, sex, disability, etc.). However, credit is something that CAN be controlled. Don't live above your means and don't buy things you can't afford. Then, like me, you find yourself in a catch-22...you are denied employment based upon your poor record of paying people back, but you can't do so because you can't find a job...

Yes credit is something that can be controlled however it an easily get out of control as well. It can be as simple as getting sick and not be able to work. Or lose a high paying job and unable to replace your salary. Or how about not having medical insurance. Im not talking about the obvious pay your bills and your credit will be ok. It is absurd to assume that if a person has bad credit that they are unethical. What about people who made mistakes when they were really young. Should they be denied employment because the charged up credit card bills in college. Or people who were the victim of identity theft. It takes longer than the time the company allows to resolve discrepancies. Should they be overlooked cause 10 business days the problem will nor be corrected. I should know I worked in the fraud department. Bad things happen all the time and not everyone can afford to but enough money away to cover then thru hard times. Some people barely have enough income to pay for rent and daycare but still are not eligibe for financial assistance. Where I live rent averages almost monthly 900.00 for a 2 bedroom dont get me started on daycare and gas. The cost of living is pretty high but its difficult just to find a job paying 30,000.00 a year. I dont have fancy cars and no credit cards but just living on my own is living above my means. LOL...

Some employers that use credit checks are drawing all sorts broad assumptions about people based on rather they have bad credit/

say that individuals with bad credit are either irresponseable,
more likely to steal from company or commit identity theft... which is of course unethical.
Case in point I have worked banks every since I was 17 from local banks to National banks. I was denied employment at Allstate when I was abt 22 because I had too much debt. Which of course was 8,000.00. Now I have never been convicted of fraud never bounced checks stuff like that and never stole from any of my employers. I have never beed fired before but HR blatantly told me I had too much debt. She assumed I was unethical. The 8,000.00 from after I had my daughter and tickets... There is no law to mandate how an employer decides what
is too bad of credit. Allstate was sued for this a few years later. I have never experience anything like that again but it was definitely an experience...

Well I see it like this. A company like Chase has over 200,000 employees. I highly doubt every single one of those people has perfect credit. Its just not realistic. I worked at a bank a little while ago and one of my coworkers filed bankruptcy and she was hired anyway. If you are more than qualified for a job, and you've never had a history of doing anything unethical in previous jobs and if that can be verified in a background check, I don't think its really an issue. Just my 2 cents

To everyone who responded concerning not getting hired due to poor credit report, I was one of those people. Even though I have an outstanding work history as well as references I was denied a high paying management job because of this. I contacted my congress person in my state and surprising heard back from her. Everyone in every state has to do this. Stop this terrible practice especially in this day and age when people are being foreclosed on left and right.

Negla3 in Columbus, Ohio said: I don't have good credit either, but I do think that the check is important, because people with bad credit and access to information can be tempted to use others' credit/identities.

Yeah maybe so but jobs needs to created for people to acheive more goals and better pay in order to get out of debt.

B in Clearwater, Florida said: They are looking for a history or financial troubles usually so it isn't necessarily by the score. Like Negla3 said, people with financial troubles are FAR more likely to do something illegal as means of paying bills especially dealing with money and/or other peoples finances and personal info. I am not saying that everyone is like that it is just statistics. Same thing as why your insurance company pulls credit to determine risk. Bad credit people are more likely to make a false claim etc...But bad credit doesn't necessarily discount you from employment if it is explainable i.e. good credit up until you became unemployed.

Never know what the situation is as to why some people have bad credt issues, all I know is that mine is horrible due to my medical condition. I believe that people would pay off there bad credit if there was enough money left over after slaving at someone eles establishment making them a fortune. I am well-educated and have professional degrees, but the industry has no consideration for each individual situation.